Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of work by the photographer Catherine Opie. I'd seen an early show by Opie at the Walker Gallery in 2014 which had stayed with me, so I was interested to see more of her work. As the blurb says Opie "makes photographs that question the who, how and why of representation". For me, what gives them weight, is their referencing of art historical work. I loved that more of her work was shown around the gallery with older portraits. Opie is a Lesbian and there is lots of references to her community and to different types of family. The works were shown in series and were well explained. Closed 31 May 2026 Reviews   Guardian Telegraph

Neat display at the National Portrait Gallery looking at Victorian photographs of family. By picking this subject in a small space it looked at this history of photography at the time from its invention to its popularisation as well as looking at the types of family in the era. I thought it stretched the latter a bit, but it meant they included the Bloomsbury Group so of course I approved. I did find things to Google including Charles Haselwood Shannon and his partner Charles Ricketts shown here. No end date given but these sort of displays are usually temporar y.

Entertaining lecture at the National Portrait Gallery focusing on the two paintings of the Bronte Sisters by their brother, Branwell, in the gallery. The talk was made by the dry, Yorkshire wit of the speaker, Sharon Wright, who has written a book of the title of the talk looking at the interior spaces of the family. At one point, as she told us a particular melancholy story, she added "I know it's a bit of a downer but it is the Brontes". She focused on the two paintings, one of Emily, cut down from a larger one of the three sisters, and the famous one of the sisters with a painted out Branwell. She talked about how they were painted and their subsequent history after their father's death. She talked about going to the house where they were found in Ireland where Charlotte's husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls lived after he left Yorkshire taking them with him. They were unknown to anyone for 50 years until they were found by a maid who was dusting the top of a ...

Clear online lecture from the London Art History Society looking at British Pop Art. Ben Street guided us clearly through the British Pop Art movement and how it differed from its American counterpart. He started by looking at the definition of Pop Art as laid out in a 1957 letter by Richard Hamilton. He also looked at how art before this in this country had been quite sombre and austere. He told us about the 1956 Whitechapel Gallery exhibition “This is Tomorrow” which included art, architecture, fashion and more and then led us through some of the main British Pop Art works often comparing it with American pieces. He looked in particular at work by two women in the movement, Pauline Boty and Jann Haworth. He concluded that British Pop Art had more of a sense of the hand crafted whereas America looked to the mass and mechanically produced.

Interesting small exhibition at the Design Museum introducing the work of Simone Brewster. Brewster seems to have started as a jewellery designer and there were some amazing pieces made of hair. They reminded me of Victorian memorial pieces. She had then branched into household objects and architectural spaces. It would have been good to have photographs of the spaces and installations she had created as I found it hard to build a vision of them from a few objects. I did love these bright planters. Closes January 2027

Fun exhibition at the Design Museum looking at the films and archive of Wes Anderson. I have found some of these shows on film directors challenging when you don’t know the movies and again, I'm afraid I didn't know Anderson's work well but I came out desperate to see the films and impressed by the level of detail in them. The show was arranged chronologically by film and displayed as tableaus of costumes and props with designs shown around it as well as clips on screens. The commentary was clear and engaging. There were also lovely displays of the puppets from his stop motion animations. I loved the costumes and was intrigued by the production of printed material for the films such as playbills for plays which are mentioned and books by the protagonists. Closes 26 July 2026 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard